Mittens: Learning to say Goodbye
by ChestnutBrumby
Summary: "They act like they love you. They act like they'll be there forever! And one day they just pack up all their stuff and move away and TAKE their love with them, and leave their declawed cat behind to fend for herself!" Mittens' early story is a sad one. One by one, she looses the family, the friends, and eventually, the person, she loves. Prequel to the movie.
1. One little black and white kitten

"Hold still, kitten!" Laughed the grey-furred queen as she groomed her sole female kitten's fur flat. "But Mo-om!" Protested the little black and white bundle, pushing her tiny white paws at her mother's muzzle in futility. "I'm already clean!" The adult cat blinked fondly at her daughter, all the while keeping one ear on the tiny mews and mock-ferocious hisses coming from a few feet away. That was her two male kittens, both grey like her, but with white markings. They got that from their father, a handsome black and white tom who lived down the road. The mother cat finished grooming her restless daughter. "Okay - now you can go and play." she smiled as the black and white kitten, smallest of the litter of three, raced to join her brothers.  
"Well Misty - what's going on here?" Hearing the small squeaking moews, Misty's owner peered into the roomy closet. "Kittens! Well, they certainly are cute... but I can't keep them, sweetheart. I'll take 'em to the city shelter when they're old enough to eat on their own. Better get you some milk, huh girl?"  
Misty was immediately filled with worry for her three children as her owner retreated to bring her a bowl of milk. Of course, she knew that her kittens wouldn't be able to stay with her forever, but how she had hoped her owner would give them to neighbors so they'd stay nearby. When her milk was brought, Misty lapped up a few mouthfuls. But she was too worried to eat very much. What would befall her young family in a few weeks time?

"Mom?" Her black and white daughter, though still much smaller than her two rambunctious brothers, had grown quite a bit. She was very pretty, with her soft fur patterned black and white. Misty licked her between the ears. "Listen to me, darling. I think my owner is going to take you to the shelter today."  
"What's a shelter?" Asked the kitten curiously, ignoring her brothers as they rolled by in a flash of blue-grey, locked together and growling playfully at one another. They did nothing but wrestle - whereas she liked to learn about the world. For instance, she knew they lived on a 'street' and had been outside several times by wriggling through the bottom gap of the window. Her mother had taught her not to venture onto the hard black road because the people's cars were dangerous to cats, and that dogs often barked, sometimes bit, and could be avoided by climbing trees, a skill dogs could not master. Strangely enough, sometimes she saw the two dangers, dogs and cars, together - her mother said that people kept dogs at pets, just like they did cats. It amazed the black and white kitten to see the cars zooming by, with dogs hanging their heads out the window. She wondered what the attraction was.  
"A shelter is a place where humans go animal shopping." Explained Misty, gently picking up one of her sons who was upside down, and putting him down the right way where he was immediately tackled by his brother. The black and white kitten looked a little scared. "But Mom, what if nobody wants me?" She asked plaintively. Misty nuzzled her daughter and purred reassuringly. "Don't worry, darling. Humans always pick the cute kittens, the one that look like you, and your brothers. You'll be fine - you'll get a wonderful new home to explore and play in. I love you very much, dear. I'll never forget you."  
Mother and daughter purred and nuzzled together. It was the last time they would ever be together.


	2. Shelter

The female kitten was a little in awe of all the noises - cats meowed, dogs barked, adult people yelled, and little people screamed and banged on cages, which was especially scary. What a racket! She crouched a little behind her burlier brothers, who stared out in fascination at all the people and animals. When a young boy passed by, one of the brothers fearlessly reached a paw through the bars of their cage to him. The boy stopped, giggled, and held out his hand. He burst into laughter when the grey and white kitten patted his fingers. "Hey, I like you! This must be your brother, huh?" The boy stuck his fingers through the bars, not noticing the black and white kitten hiding behind the bigger males. The other brother purred, rubbing his head on the boy's hand. "I have a brother, too. Hey, Tommy! Come and see these ones!" He called. A second, bigger boy with the same sandy hair came running up. "Oh, they are cool. Do you think Mom will let us have one each?"

Mittens watched one of the adult people pick up her brothers and hand them to the boys. They were handled gently, lovingly, and their purrs could be heard even over all the assorted noise in the room. "Oh, they're so friendly!" exclaimed one boy, while the mother smiled and patted both kittens, then took them one at a time to look at their teeth, into their eyes and ears, and make sure they were healthy. She did this very gently, and the two kittens didn't mind at all, purring through all the attention while patting with their paws at the mother, the two boys, and one another. "Oh, Mom, they're such good friends. We couldn't separate them!" Pointed out the older boy beseechingly. As it turned out, after much pleading on behalf of both boys, the kitten brothers were adopted together into the family. The two male kittens turned back as they were being carried away by the ecstatic boys. "Bye Sis!" Called one, the other waving his white paw in farewell. "We'll miss you!" He added. The female kitten moved to the front of the cage, watching them go. _You won't miss me at all_, she thought wryly to herself. _You'll have one another just like you always had_. But her brother's sentiment touched her nonetheless. "Bye! Maybe I'll see you guys again someday!" She called optimistically, and two hopeful meows answered her before her brothers, too, were gone from her life.

Five days later, she was sleeping curled at the side of her cage, her brother's scent having almost completely faded. She hadn't been adopted as quickly as they had - but all that was about to change. "Mommy, Daddy, look! This one has white paws. I want her." Declared the voice of a little girl. Opening her green eyes, the kitten saw a dark-haired girl pointing at her. "That one, that one! Let me hold her!" Demanded the child. Mittens, having watched the routine with other kittens and puppies during her days here, knew to be good when one of the adults removed her from her cage and placed her in the little girl's arms. She hugged the kitten - though a little bit too tightly, so that she meowed in surprise. The girl giggled, and hugged her again, fortunately a little more gently. "I want this one!"

"Okay, darling." The mother smiled indulgently, not even glancing at the bundle of black and white fur her daughter clutched. Her father, dressed in a business suit, was speaking on a mobile phone. He excused himself from his conversation for a moment to look down at his daughter's smiling face. "Okay sweetheart, if that's the one you want, that's the one we'll get." He said, before going back to his phone call. The girl squealed in delight, holding Mittens up in front of her face. Remembering how impressed her brother's family had been with their antics, Mittens gently patted the girl's nose. She began to giggle. "Aww, she likes me!"  
"What are you going to call her, Bethany?" Asked the mother. Bethany beamed, stroking the kitten's white forepaws before hugging her once more. "Mittens!"


	3. New Home

Mittens smelt the scent of another cat as soon as she was carried into the hallway that led to the home of her new family. She sniffed the air experimentally as the adult people unbolted the door and pulled out jangling keys to enter. It had been a very long car trip - cars, she remembered her mother telling her, were okay if you were on the inside of one, like the dogs she used to watch on their old street. She had seen a lot of very tall buildings around them as they come close to the one she would now live in. This wasn't the same neighborhood as she'd been born, that was for sure.

Once they were finally inside, Bethany put her on the ground. Mittens sniffed around, looking for the adult cat she could tell lived here too. She had to explore three rooms before she came across it. He was an old cream tabby with long fur and a weary expression. His eyes were closed as he napped on a windowbox, but one slitted open when Mittens jumped up beside him. "Hi!" The black and white kitten announced brightly. The old tom sighed heavily, blowing her whiskers backwards. But when her smiling face didn't go away, he slowly heaved himself into a sitting position, his back bent, head bowed, unable to straighten up fully. "Mmmphh. Wondered how long it'd be until one like you showed up." He grumbled. Mittens sniffed at his pale fur curiously. His limbs radiated an uncomfortable heat and he winced as he shifted his weight. "One like me? You knew I was coming? How come?" Mittens asked the older cat curiously. He rolled his eyes - this was all he needed. A kitten with endless questions. He slumped back down on a pillow. "Way of the world, Kid." He grunted. Mittens, who could tell that while he might be grumpy, he wasn't a threat, jumped up onto the tom's side and peered down at him. He didn't bat an eyelid. "What way? And my name isn't kid. It's Mittens." She said proudly. The tom grumbled under his breath. Mittens batted playfully at his ear. "You want to play?" She asked hopefully. He rasped out a laugh. "My playing days are long behind me, kid."

"It's Mittens!" Insisted the kitten, flattening her ears stubbornly. But she didn't hold a grudge for long as her ears pricked back up hopefully. "What's your name?"

"Jasper." He sighed. Fortunately for him, the kitten's attention was distracted when she noticed the view from the window. They were on the sixth floor of the apartment block. Cars smaller than Mittens' paws rolled along the roads that wound between other tall buildings, and tiny specks of people were all over the sidewalk. Mittens was fascinated - for five minutes or so. "How long have you lived here Jasper?"

He hacked a cough before answering. "A very long time." He muttered unwillingly, gazing off into the horizon as if he could see something Mittens couldn't. She wasn't put out, however. "How come all those people are walking around out there? Where are they all going? Have you even been down there?"

Jasper sighed once more. It was going to be a long day - the first of many.


	4. Price Paid

Mittens soon settled into the apartment. It was a fun place to explore. Her favourite times where when Bethany brought out a ball of yarn and they batted it back and forth until it unraveled all over the lounge room. Bethany's mother would wind up the yarn again when they were finished, ready for next time. And sometimes, when the father was reading his morning paper, Mittens jumped up into his lap and sat there purring while he patted her. Old arthritic Jasper had a meow that was worse than his claws, but he was all right really. He was a bit like Misty in that he would answer Mittens' questions and taught her things about the world. But he got into moods - sometimes short-tempered, sometimes sad.

One day as he sat on his windowbox, gazing at the gathering clouds, Mittens asked him why he was always so grumpy. He avoided her gaze. "You might be as old as I am someday. Then it'll be your turn." He warned, but his expression was filled with regret. Puzzled, Mittens left him alone. Somedays she liked to sit on the windowbox beside him and marvel at how high up they were, and watch the life on the streets below, but he obviously wanted to be alone just then. While Jasper never wanted to play with her, Bethany could often be enticed into a game of chase the string, unravel the yarn, or foot-pounce. Mittens ran off to find her person.

When Mittens was abut six months old, her kitten energy began to be replaced by the more staid persona of an adult. But there were still flashes of the playful kitten very much evident - which flared up the day two strange, large men brought a new sofa in through the door. How they managed to tilt and tip and shove it in Mittens never knew. Her family were all late getting home that evening, and Jasper was in one of his moods, unwilling to talk to her, and was napping on his windowbox. She wandered over to the new sofa and rubbed her head against it, so that if any other cats visited, they'd know it was part of her territory. Without thinking, she reached up and sank her claws into the couch. It crackled wonderfully, an amazing texture the old one never had. Mittens gave a meow of delight and pulled her claws all the way down. She repeated this several times until she had several long threads hanging down. That was even better, because she could lie on her back and bat and pull at the strings. This was even more fun than playing unravel the yarn!

She curled up on one of the new sofa cushions when she was finally exhausted. She awoke when she heard the bolts and locks opening, jumping down and running to the door to greet her family. Jasper had recovered from his bad mood, and walked stiffly into the room as well, but his lazy expression changed to one of alarm when he saw the damage inflicted on the sofa. "Mittens!" He groaned, but it was too late. The adults had seen it, too. The father yelled, and mother screeched. Alarmed, Mittens retreated - but there was nowhere to hide in the apartment from the angry humans.

The next day she found herself in a sterile, horrible-smelling place that reminded her a bit of the Shelter because she could catch the scents of several other dogs and cats. But scent of antiseptic and fear were what scared Mittens. Why was she here? A white-coated man took her, handling her briskly and scaring her even more. Then she found herself stuck with something sharp and painful in her neck and she yowled for help, looking around for Bethany. Surely, her girl would help her, stop all of this? But her vision grew hazy, and she couldn't see her person anywhere. Her eyes closed and she slumped on the examination table.

Her forepaws hurt her when she woke up. She looked down at them in confusion. But when she realized she was back home with the familiar scents of her family, Jasper and the apartment, she jumped to her paws.  
A yowl of pain escaped her. The simple act of standing and resting her weight on her front paws sent pain shooting up her whole leg. She felt over, kicking feebly. Somewhere in the background, she could hear Bethony crying quietly. But none of her humans came. Only old Jasper shuffled stiffly over to look down at the kitten sadly. "Sorry, Kid. The hardest lesson to learn is that the ones you trust can just turn around and bite you in the tail."

After a few months, Mittens found the pain receded. Her balance wasn't very good, though, and if she stayed on her paws for any longer than an hour or two she got sore. Even playing unravel the yarn ball was painful after a while, but since Bethany didn't want to play much anymore, that was okay with Mittens.

One day she woke up uneasy. There was a stillness in the air, something wrong with the atmosphere of the apartment. Anxiously, Mittens stood up, stretched her stiff paws, and went to investigate. "Hey, Jasper." She called, passing his windowbox, and spotting his creamy fur curled up in his usual spot. "Do you know what's wrong?" She jumped up beside him - he was getting so deaf in his old age. "Jasper? Hey, wake up." She reached out a paw to pat his shoulder, but stopped before she touched him.

He wasn't breathing. Mittens stared for several minutes, frozen in place with her paw out. Jasper... he'd died?! How could that be possible? Mittens had never imagined her future without the cranky old tom around. And now... here he lay, cold and still. Mittens backed away, then let out a piteous wail, which Jasper would never respond to.


	5. Lucky

Things grew both better and worse for Mittens after Jasper's death. Worse because she missed the old cat terribly, and because Bethany didn't want to play with her much at all anymore, so she was lonely and bored. And then better, after Bethany watched the DVD of 101 Dalmatians and decided she wanted a dog just like the stars of the show. And so, when Mittens, around ten months old now, woke up one morning, she had a new playmate.

"Hi!" Barked the bright-eyed, black-spotted puppy, grinning an inch away from Mitten's nose. "Ah!" She yelped, jumping up. The puppy giggled and licked her on the nose. "I've never met a cat before. What's your name?" Mittens paused for a moment, rubbing her nose clean. "Mittens. What about you - wait, lemme guess. Spots!" The puppy thought this was so funny he rolled over onto his belly and waved all four paws in the air. Pausing for breath, he flashed another wide, doggy grin. "Nope! My name's Lucky." He said proudly. Mittens had never had much to do with dogs, but it was hard to resist Lucky's happy nature and energy. Besides, she was still young enough to be quite playful - though not quite as playful as Lucky!

He spent all day playing. He ran, he jumped, he never seemed to stop until he was completely tired out and flopped down in a spotted heap to sleep. Lucky and Mittens were soon fast friends. At first while Lucky was little it was easy for Mittens to beat him when they raced around the apartment, or to jump on his back and bite at his floppy ears (gently, of course, never leaving a mark). But he grew rapidly and was soon three times her size. However, having grown up with Mittens, he was always gentle with her, even when he pinned her down with one big paw and licked her face.

Bethony adored Lucky and took him downstairs to play in the garden of the apartment block every day. Mittens had taken to sitting on Jasper's windowbox, where she could see them running and playing together. She felt a flash of sadness. Bethany used to play games with her all the time. What happened?  
"What happened?" Asked Lucky later, sniffing curiously at the windowbox. "To the other cat, I mean?" He had an excellent sense of smell, much sharper than Mittens. She herself could no longer smell Jasper's scent in the apartment anymore, which reminded her of how her brothers' scent faded from her cage back at the shelter. She wondered how they were, and if their two boys still played with them, and if they had a dog where they lived.

"He got old, and he died." Mittens replied quietly. A worried look came over Lucky's face. "You're not going to get old and die, are you?" He asked in a small voice. Mittens smiled and butted her head against his muzzle affectionately. "No, Wags, I'm only a year old. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." It made her feel strangely grown-up to be comforting the overgrown puppy. He looked very relieved, and leaned over to lick Mittens on the head, ruffling her fur. "Oh, good! You're my very best friend, Mittens. Well, you and Bethany." He jumped up on the windowbox beside her, nearly squashing her - was he _still_ growing, she wondered? She curled up purring between his front paws and he rested his chin on her back. Together, the two young friends napped in the afternoon sun.


	6. Forever is a very long time

"Bethany! Be careful with your food!" Scolded her mother as the little girl accidentally dropped a piece of her bacon on the floor. Lucky, his tail wagging wildly, pounced on the scrap and gobbled it up before Bethany's mother could retrieve it from the floor. She frowned when Bethany giggled wildly, while Lucky licked his lips and eyed his person's plate hopefully, tilting his head pinning his ears back politely, putting on his most appealing face. When her mother turned back to the stove, Bethany dropped Lucky another piece. Mittens was watching from the top of the kitchen countertop and meowed hopefully - maybe she would get a piece of bacon too! Lucky looked up at her and grinned. "Cats may be able to sit on the counter, but if food hits the ground, it goes to the hound." He said teasingly. Mittens rolled her green eyes at the half-grown dog. But she couldn't help but notice, Bethany hadn't even looked her way.

The next morning Mittens tried to engage Bethany in a game, purring and rubbing against her ankles. But her girl just pushed her aside and grabbed Lucky's leash, calling the dog's name. Mittens watched sadly as they ran out the door, then noticed in her haste, Bethany hadn't closed it properly. Mittens shot a quick look back into the apartment. The father was on a phone call and he never noticed anything while he talked. And the mother had gone down to the store to get some food. Mittens quietly crept out of the door, into the hallway. Why shouldn't she play outside, too?

She found stairs headed downwards, and cautiously she began to creep down. Things went well and she thought she must be getting near the ground, until she heard footsteps coming - loud ones, accompanied by loud voices. Two teenage boys were headed up towards her, throwing a football between them. Unsure, she paused. The boys spotted her and laughed carelessly, leaping up the steps to give her a fright. Mittens was frightened all right, and backed up, then turned to run back up the stairs. The boys gave chase, one throwing the ball at her which thunked against the wall, just missing her.

In desperation as she reached a landing, Mittens spotted a small window, open at the bottom. Hoping it led to a different part of the apartment building, Mittens jumped up and squeezed through. In her haste, she didn't realize the old wooden windowsill was cracked and rickety. To her dismay, she found herself outside, and two stories up. She heard a shout from inside, and a thump against the window. That was all it took - the holdings in the windowsill gave way. Mittens fell, yowling. She spun around in midair, her tail guiding her instinctively, and landed in a large dumpster. Pain shot through her paws and she cried out. The rubbish in the dumpster wasn't high enough for her to reach the sides - she was trapped. She meowed for help, but nobody came. Miserably, Mittens settled down on a garbage bag and licked her painful paws.

It had grown dark by the time an anxious voice called her name. "Mittens! Are you there?" She blinked, lifting her head stiffly, feeling sore and bruised. "Lucky?" she called back, and a bark confirmed who it was. A moment later, Lucky's head and shoulders appeared over the edge of the dumpster. "Hold on, Mittens! I'm going to get you out." He disappeared and there was the sound of running paws. Then, the Dalmatian took a running leap and landed inside, beside Mittens. "Come on, can you climb up my back? You should be able to reach the edge from there." He urged her, and with his help Mittens made it to the top. She jumped, not without discomfort thanks to he aching paws, to a stack of boxes beside the dumpster - they were what Lucky had stood on to see in. He followed her out, then sniffed her anxiously. "I was worried about you!" He sighed, licking her fur the wrong way. She nuzzled him for a moment. "How did you find me?"

Lucky flattened both ears with a lick. "I sniffed you out." She winced and pushed him away. "Hey, that's enough, I'm okay really. Look, how do we get back upstairs?"

"This way." Lucky nudged her and led her to the front of the building. "There's something really weird going on upstairs, you have to see it. There's all these boxes, and some strange guys picking up all the furniture!" Lucky bounded around her excitedly, happy again now he knew she was okay. Mittens wasn't quite so excited about the notion of moving furniture, remembering how she'd been declawed after the new sofa arrived. She hoped nothing bad would happen this time.

"Hey - thanks for coming to find me, Lucky." After all, it wasn't like Bethany or the grownup people had come to find her. Had they even noticed she was missing? Lucky paused and looked over his shoulder, his still-puppyish face becoming one big smile. "Sure, Mittens. We'll always be best friends." He said, with complete and utter certainty.

**A/N: A chapter dedicated to the loyal reviewer Dinode :) Thanks for supporting this story! **  
**The name for this chapter is from a line in the Disney movie "Fox and the Hound" because the friendship between Mittens and Lucky reminds me of Copper and Todd.**


	7. How could they

"Wow - what happened here?" Mittens asked in surprise, looking around the apartment. Like Lucky had said, there were big boxes everywhere - and all of the assorted things the people usually had strewn around were nowhere to be seen.

Lucky immediately began to sniff around curiously, but Mittens was suddenly filled with dread. Moving cautiously, she began to explore the apartment. The cushions Jasper used to sleep on were gone from the window box. It was almost frightening to see it looking so bare, and Mittens backed away. This was all wrong!

"Come on Lucky, in you go." The father held the door open of a crate big enough for the Dalmatian, who went in willingly when one of his favourite bone toys was offered. "Hey, Mittens, check this out! I wonder if you're getting one too!" Barked Lucky, his tail wagging as he turned around in a circle, sniffing every inch of the crate.

But instead of a crate for her, Mittens found herself picked up by Bethany's father. It wasn't like when he used to pat her as she sat in his lap. This was like he was carrying a bag of shopping or a stack of books, cold and impersonal, and his grip made Mittens even more scared. "Lucky? Bethany?" She called as she was carried downstairs, hearing an answering bark from Lucky. But Bethany was nowhere to be seen.

Mittens found herself deposited in the alley with the dumpster she'd fallen into earlier that day. She meowed as Bethany's father walked back up the alley. Rain began to fall as he disappeared back inside, striking the pavement coldly. Her green eyes wide, Mittens watched him leave. Why was she out here? Was this punishment for sneaking out of the apartment? Shivering and bewildered, she huddled against the brick wall and waited for one of her family to appear and let her back inside.

When they did appear, she was soaked through and starting to go into shock. Bethany ran right by the alley and climbed into a waiting car. Then came her mother, and her father and a second man, carrying Lucky's cage. With his keen nose he smelt Mittens and began to bark frantically. "Mittens, where are you?" He called desperately, no longer the happy-go-lucky puppy all of a sudden. She braved the rain, running forward, into the street - for once, it was bare of people, save for her family. "Lucky!" She called to her friend, as his crate was loaded into the back of the car. The father got in too and the engine started. Mittens meowed and meowed, standing on the sidewalk, paws frozen to the ground in disbelief as she finally understood. _They were leaving without her_!

The car began to move away. Mittens began to run after it along the sidewalk, but it was so much faster than she was! Lucky threw himself against the door of his crate, barking fit to burst as if he understood as well. But Bethany and her parents never looked back. The car grew smaller and smaller in front of her."Bethany! _Lucky_!" Called Mittens in despair, running as fast as she could. Lucky lifted his head in a final howl of misery.

The car turned onto a busy main road and Mittens lost sight of it altogether. The rain plastered her black and white fur to her sides as she gasped for breath. The flow of traffic continued in front of her, carrying away Mittens' old life, her best friend, and her person.

**The End... **


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